The present invention relates to a portable football holder. In the prior art, portable football holders are generally known. However, Applicant is unaware of any such portable football holder including all of the features and aspects of the present invention.
The following prior art is known to Applicant:
U.S. Pat. No. D235,462 to Pennington discloses a football kicking tee including a base having projections designed to embed in a ground surface and a ball holder including an arm designed to engage the tip of a football. The present invention differs from the teachings of Pennington as contemplating a portable football holder having two mutually pivotable legs with one leg attached to a base which merely sits on a ground surface rather than being embedded therein.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,462,145 to Shirley et al. discloses a football kicking tee including a base having pointed projections designed to be embedded in a ground surface and a spring biased pivotable arm having an end designed to engage the tip of a football. The present invention differs from the teachings of Shirley et al. as contemplating a portable football holder having two mutually pivotable legs with one leg attached to a base which merely sits on a ground surface rather than being embedded therein.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,897,948 to Gerela discloses a football place-kicking device including a base designed to sit on a ground surface and an angled upright having a flexible arm extending therefrom. The present invention differs from the teachings of Gerela as contemplating a portable football holder having two mutually pivotable legs with one leg attached to a base which sits on a ground surface.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,049,267 to Forrest discloses a football place-kicking device including a U-shaped member having one end designed to be attached to a conventional kicking block and another end having a flexible end designed to engage the tip of a football to hold the football on the kicking block. The present invention differs from the teachings of Forrest as contemplating a portable football holder having two mutually pivotable legs with one leg attached to a base which sits on a ground surface.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,477,077 to Ferrebee discloses a football place/field goal kicking device including a base supporting an upright and three mutually pivotable legs with a distal leg having an end designed to engage the tip of a football from directly above to support the football on a ground surface. The present invention differs from the teachings of Ferrebee as contemplating two mutually pivotable legs with one leg being directly connected to a base and with the other leg designed to engage the tip of a football from the side. U.S. Pat. No. 4,632,395 also to Ferrebee discloses a similar device with the difference being an additional pivot on the upright. The present invention differs from the teachings of this Ferrebee patent for the same reasons set forth above concerning U.S. Pat. No. 4,477,077 to Ferrebee.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,546,974 to Brown discloses a football holding device including a base and a spring-biased arm extending therefrom and designed to engage the tip of a football from the side. The present invention differs from the teachings of Brown as contemplating a portable football holder having two mutually pivotable legs with one leg attached to a base which sits on a ground surface.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,634,122 to Kline discloses a holder for football place-kicking practice which includes a base designed to support a kicking block and also having mounted thereto a double arm to which is pivoted a horizontally extending arm designed to engage the tip of a football from the side. The horizontally extending arm also includes a tension adjustment device consisting of a weight, the position of which may be adjusted along the arm. The present invention differs from the teachings of Kline as contemplating a base connected with one of the arms, which base pivots upwardly away from the ground surface in the ball supporting position.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,807,880 to Deal discloses a ball support device including an inverted J-shaped support arm designed to engage the tip of a football from above. The present invention differs from the teachings of Deal as contemplating a portable football holder having two mutually pivotable legs with one leg attached to a base which sits on a ground surface.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,946,165 to Rambacher discloses a football holder for place-kicking which includes a base having a fixed upright and a horizontally pivotable arm extending therefrom and designed to engage the tip of a football from the side. The present invention differs from the teachings of Rambacher as contemplating two mutually pivotable legs with one of the legs engaging the tip of a football from the side and with the other leg being connected with a V-shaped base which pivots away from the ground in the position wherein the tip of the football is engaged.